Buyers

If successful, the Packs should provide you with more information before you make what could be one of the largest decisions of your life.

However, we have found that many agents are not providing them to prospective buyers. The regulations state that agents must supply Packs on request. Make sure you ask for the pack for the property in which you are interested.

The provision of HIPs does not affect the legal rule that a buyers must satisfy themselves on all details of the property before they commit to the purchase.

HIPs consist of anything between 100 - 150 pages of information, much of it technical. You will need expert help in interpreting the information, something in which we are well experienced.

The most important thing is that the Pack cannot be accepted at face value; it will need looking at carefully. The contents of the pack will not include all information that buyers and their lenders currently require and so further enquiries and investigations must be made by someone who is acting solely on your behalf.

In our experience, many Hips are not compliant with the regulations meaning that there could be further delays and cost in supplementing the information.

When compiling the Pack the Seller and their agents will have a great deal of discretion as to what is put in and so you need someone with experience to tell you what is missing! The Packs will not contain any valuation information and are unlikely to contain a Home Condition Report or any survey information.